Chapter 435: The Royal Banquet
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Like father, like daughter; Y'zaks' daughter had inherited his great quality as proven by her unusual behavior. Hao Ren and company quickly learned what had happened to Helcrown in the past year from little Y'lisabet as well as the old court advisor, Zadamor. The story basically centered around a gifted child who drove a huge robot, pretending to be her father. She tried to boost the morale of the people while at the same time, build enough troops for another wave of counter-attack. Although the whole process did not sound like a fantasy script, none of them were really sensible people who would act according to the script, so let us not delve into the details.
In the final battle a year ago, Helcrown was sucked into a space storm. It miraculously survived, but it was sent into a strange space where no one had ever set foot in before. Thanks to Y'zaks' foresight, he remodeled Helcrown to be completely self-containing and self-sustaining, knowing that he had enemies all over the world. The city's controller activated the system at a critical moment to protect its citizens, and afforded Y'lisabet time to plan for the future.
She knew there was only one person who could lead the people under the prevailing circumstances, but she had no idea when they could get out of that strange space. So, she immediately started to design "Papa I" to preside over the throne. With the help of Zadamor and a few veterans, she made up a variety of excuses to justify the "return" of the fake mad demon king to the city... This was indeed a miraculous gene inherited from Y'zaks. Both of them were good in doing things the unorthodox way.
The fake "demon king" rarely appeared before the public and only showed its face to reassure the people. It was done in the guise of pondering about the future. Meanwhile, when Y'lisabet was not driving the Papa I, she would go around as usual, acting as Helcrown's "executive director". That was how she kept things under wraps.
The only problem with the entire impersonation process was, Y'zaks had not been seen in human form againever since that day. However, it was not a cause for concern as no one raised any questions.
So far, only a handful of people in Helcrown knew about the fake demon king. This small group of people were Y'lisabet, Zadamor, a few veterans, and a few dwarven engineers who were the builders of the Papas.
Hao Ren found that the little Y'lisabet was a genius. Of course, he knew Y'lisabet's true age as well. She was at least a few hundred years old, but this did not help when it came to her 1.3-m body height. Anyway, as Y'zaks' buddy, Hao Ren treated Y'lisabet like a child.
A grand banquet was being held in the demon king's palace. When Hao Ren and his group stepped into the banquet hall, they were startled; they never thought they would actually see a feast of this scale in demonic territory. Rows of tables that were filled with food lined the massive hall, and people of various races were among the attendees—they were mostly dwarves and humans, but elves with sharp ears could also be seen gathering and chatting in the quieter corners of the hall. Despite the hall itself being of demonic style, the furnishings and decorations throughout were clearly made to accommodate people of all races. Such a place could only be found in Helcrown. For all along, Y'zaks was the only demon king who had seriously considered the possibility of integrating all the ethnic cultures in the world. This massive city of Helcrown was his biggest achievement.
When Lily pushed open the door to the banquet hall, she almost screamed in joy. She jumped and yelped, "Yay ! The food's so delicious!"
Hao Ren had to pull her back by grabbing her tail (the maiden had let her tail out to get some fresh air since she felt safe in Y'zaks' place). "Behave yourself! We're only guests here!" Hao Ren reminded her.
"I thought Helcrown was in a state of a meltdown, little did I expect you people to be so optimistic!" Vivian looked at the grand banquet hall and glanced at Y'zaks in surprise before her eyes fell on Y'lisabet. "This kid is amazing."
"Yes, I am." Y'lisabet nodded. "I've been trying to keep the people's morale up."
The grand banquet was held to welcome the return of the "Great Sage". It was a very significant event attended by all the high-level leaders. However, they absolutely did not expect another figure to be the first one to come in through the door.
Y'zaks had changed his appearance slightly. He was back in the human form he once used in Helcrown. It was more like a post-car-accident look. He did not have to suppress his aura anymore as he strode toward the host's seat in the long hall.
At this moment, the entire hall became quiet. Everyone, be it demon or another race had their eyes fixed on the figure, who they had not seen for a year. Most of them were just surprised that the demon king was suddenly appearing in his human form—in their minds, the demon king had always been living in the city. Only a few people were shocked: they were the ones who had knowledge of the fake demon king.
Y'zaks guffawed as he walked to the front. He then nodded to everyone as if nothing had happened. "How's everyone?"
Many people found the question weird, but they still raised their glasses and gave him a toast. A few figures near the long tables suddenly stood up.
They were four demons who had shrunk in size and a few dwarves.
Y'zaks noticed them at once. He smiled and nodded at Hao Ren before raising his hand to motion the dwarves and demons to step forward. The dwarves and demons immediately approached Y'zaks. Leading them was a dark dwarf, who was old and short like a wine barrel. The dwarf was wearing a working uniform full of pockets and his beard was so long that it looked almost like a scarf hanging down his chin. It felt as though the dwarf was rolling over when he ran, at least to Hao Ren. As the old dwarf came before Y'zaks, he looked up and exclaimed, "Oh, my god..."
Y'lisabet's hands were instantly in akimbo, a sign of her stress. "He's my dad, not your god!"
The dwarf continued to look up and say, "The princess' dad... Oh, wait... Demon King? This-this is..."
Hao Ren quickly bent down to prop the dwarf's head up. "Calm down, your neck almost made a 90-degree turn. Yes, you're right, he's your boss."
Y'zaks folded his hands across his chest and smiled wryly. "It's me, I'm back—the genuine one."
The old dwarf had no clue what Y'zaks meant by "genuine one". The first thing the dwarf did was reach into one of his pockets, and take out a screwdriver. "Please don't move. Let me poke you a little. If there's no cockpit in there, then you're real."
Y'zaks guffawed as he grabbed the funny dwarf up by his beard and said, "Now tell me, am I still a fake?"
The old dwarf immediately waved and danced in the air. "Judging from your grab, I know you're real!"
Hao Ren and the rest looked on, dumbfounded. The corporate culture in the demonic army was way too difficult for outsiders to comprehend.
Y'zaks put the old dwarf down, and began introducing him to Hao Ren. "This is Sentius Hot Hammer, my chief engineer. The chainswords and cannons on the walls are all the creations him and his fellow dwarves."
Y'lisabet added, "He's the Uncle Hammer I was talking about earlier."
Then, Y'zaks pointed at the four higher demons who had shrank in size. "They are my four generals..."
After introducing each and every one of them, Y'zaks folded his hands across his chest. He looked at his old comrades and laughed heartily. "Okay, I'm done here. Do you have any questions you'd like to ask?"
"My King, is it really you? Are you all right?" A demon with a horn on his head still could not believe that Y'zaks had suddenly appeared before his eyes. "Is-is this real?"
"I'm not going to repeat the same thing," said Y'zaks. "I was taking refuge in a very faraway place. This gentleman beside me is Hao Ren, who has been my 'landlord'. It's all thanks to him. Without his help, I wouldn't have made it back to this world."
"Back to this world?" Sentius Hot Hammer was suddenly wide-eyed. "You mean all the while you were at..."
"The Theory of the Spatial Bubble Zone is real. Even the multiverse theory that the great scholar put forth a few years before his death is also real." Y'zaks laughed. He then pointed to Hao Ren. "Salute him. This is the guy who's in charge of the bridge between two worlds. It's a good thing that he's easy to talk to, or else I really don't know how I'd make it back from the other world."
Hao Ren smiled wryly and greeted the demons as well as dwarfs, who already had their jaws on the floor. "Well, actually, I'm just a policeman and traffic warden..."